Pumpkin Up the Party
by Hastur
Summary: Sequel to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Incest", just as dirty. Now with 98% less bestiality! Justin and Alex save Halloween! Jalex. Duh.
1. Samhain's Harold

**A.N.: This is a sequel to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Incest". As such, it is just as vulgar, sophomoric, irreverent, blasphemous, etc as the previous. Consider yourself warned. And as before, don't expect fine literature, wit, or anything of the sort. This is the literary equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting. Yeah, I went there.**

**In this chapter, we set up the scene - it's nigh Hallowe'en and Alex and Justin have been secretly "dating" for 10 months. **

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It was nearly a year after Justin and Alex realized their feelings for one another. Their vile, disgusting and horrible incestuous lusts and desires. Specifically, it was 10 months, because it was now October, and Justin and Alex were in the lair, carving pumpkins together.

They had been spending a lot more time together, which lead to this exchange between Jerry and Theresa:

_ "Say, do you think our son and daughter have been spending more time together recently?" Jerry said to Theresa._

_ "No, not really," she replied._

_ "Oh, I didn't think so."_

And thus the tradition of lame lampshade hanging continued.

To their credit, Alex and Justin, while loving one another, being attracted to one another, and all the et cetera, they had pretty much the same relationship they had before. Except this time with physical displays of affection. Or perhaps that should be said to be _more_ physical displays of affection because when you think about it they were always hugging and touching one another anyway.

In any event, this means that Alex and Justin still teased and taunted one another quite a bit, although it now occurs to me that I probably should have used indirect characterization here.

Alex looked at Justin's pumpkin.

"What the hell is that?" she asked, confused by the strange and arcane symbol that seemed to have been carved into Justin's pumpkin.

"Man, it's just a Greek letter," he said.

"Why on earth would you do that?" Alex asked.

"So I could have pumpkin pi, naturally."

Justing chuckled, and Alex smacked him.

Then suddenly, there was a flash of light, and standing before Justin and Alex was a familiar-looking Angel.

"Hey, it's our buddy Harold!" Justin exclaimed.

"Yep, that's me, in the flesh," Harold said, removing his cigarette first. "Only you know, not really, having no flesh."

"So what are you here for?" Justin asked. "It's nowhere near Christmas."

"Yeah, well, like I said I put in a word for you with the Big Guy and I have good news for you two fucking lovebirds. And I do mean _fucking _lovebirds. Seriously, you guys are - well anyway, never mind, I prefer not to think about it. So Head Honcho is considering giving you guys leniency for your sin."

"That's great news! Harold, I could kiss you!" Justin cried.

"Ugh, please don't. That would be uncomfortable for me on many levels, not the least of which is the thing with your fucking sister. And again, I do mean _fucking_ sister."

"What's the catch?" Alex said, narrowing her eyes.

"Well two things," Harold said, nonchalantly. "One is that He's currently only _considering _it. And the other is that in order to curry His favor, He needs a job out of you."

"Aww, work? Damn," Alex replied.

"Well look, it's only going to take one night and being wizards you two are uniquely suited to perform this duty."

"What is it?" Justin asked.

"As you know," Harold said after taking a long draw on his cigarette. "Samhain is that time of the year when the veil between the material plane and the other planes is thin. Or some shit like that, I don't know, I'm just a fucking herald. All I know is that terribly evil wizards, evil and misguided mortals, and other various magical and mundane creatures, people and sects all perform lots of creepy-ass rituals, sometimes even creepy ass-rituals, and do bad bad things. And your job is to prevent it!"

"What, we have to prevent everyone from doing all that kind of stuff on Halloween?" Alex asked.

"Well no, not everyone, everywhere. It's way too big a job for just a couple of wizards. You'll just be patrolling this general area," Harold explained.

"What general area, exactly?" Justin asked. Harold pulled out a map and unfurled it. It hung floating in the air. Harold then opened up a pointer stick thingy. He pointed at their street with the stick, and a circle appeared on the map.

"Pretty much just within this circle," he said. "It's only a few streets." He handed the map to Justin, as the circle stayed on it for reference.

"I'll get to use all my monster hunting skill," Justin said excitedly.

"And I'll get to use all my...not caring...skill," Alex attempted.

"Just be sure to double-check on any rituals or rites you see being performed," Harold admonished. "There's a difference between evil mortals and mortals dressed in funny clothes putting on an act just for fun."

"How can we be sure?" Justin asked.

"Intention is a large part of it. If they don't intend to cause anything to happen, nothing will."

"Sounds tricky. And how exactly do we stop them?"

"Any way you want. Short of like, killing them or causing extreme property damage, naturally."

"Man, we have to do it the hard way?" Alex whined.

"I know, I know. Though if you do come across any demons, you are free to use any force necessary on them. I doubt you'd be able to kill one, though."

"Right!" Justin said, smiling from ear to ear. It is secretly all good male wizards' desire that they get to fight evil, because males really love fighting stuff, and fighting stuff when you have massive magical power is even cooler. But alas, they rarely get a justified chance to do so.

"Well I'm just glad that it's not for another week," Alex said.

"Come on, Alex!" Justin commanded, headed upstairs. "We have a lot of getting ready to do for it!"

Alex groaned, but followed Justin upstairs.

Harold looked at the carved pumpkins.

"Well, I hope they don't get _squashed._ But I think if they _gourd_ themselves well, they'll do a _vine_ job."

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**A.N.: Fun fact: I actually did carve a pi into a pumpkin one year.**


	2. Fanservice Redux

**A.N.: I'm trying an update a day until Halloween! Each update is supposed to be about 1000 words and since I'm just making shit up as I go along and not really caring about having much of a plot beyond "a method of moving from one joke to the next" it should be relatively easy to do so.**

**In this chapter, Justin and Alex prepare for their job by picking out costumes!**

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Justin and Alex were in Justin's room, pouring over a tome that he had in his room. Well, Justin was, anyway. Alex was attempting to distract him in various means, such as by nibbling on his ear.

"Alex, I love you to death but we have important work to do," he said, trying to read the book he had in front of him as Alex licked his neck in small circles. Alex stopped, grinned, and then moved up to his lips, forcing her own on them as she gave him a deep and passionate kiss. Alas, poor Justin couldn't resist the feminine wiles of his baby sister.

"Ugh, gross," a voice from behind them came. They turned around to see Harold watching them.

"How long have you been there?" Alex demanded.

"Too long. By which I mean like, half a second. Because, gross."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Alex continued.

"Oh, I thought I'd give you a piece of advice. I'd suggest you wear costumes to blend in with the people you'll likely be involved with. I mean given that it's Halloween, you're likely to be able to blend in anywhere with the right costumes."

"Ooh!" Justin cried. "I could be some sort of Steampunk mad scientist! With like, aviator goggles and a Victorian lab coat and-"

"I think we should be a witch and a wizard," Alex said.

Harold nodded. "Yeah, go with her idea. You'll blend in way more. I mean seriously, who the hell likes Steampunk? People who are _too nerdy for Cyberpunk._ I mean, wrap your head around that for a minute."

Justin frowned, but Alex smirked and stuck out her tongue at him. Justin leaped forward and took the initiative to suck on it, wrapping her up in a deep French kiss.

"Dear God in Heaven," Harold muttered, rolling his eyes, looking up, then disappearing.

After Justin and Alex broke apart, Alex pulled her wand from her boot, and waved it. Justin and Alex were bathed in a brilliant light (it was almost as smart as Justin) and the two siblings were changed into their costumes. (I managed to get them into costume last time and that wasn't even about Halloween; I certainly can't pass up the opportunity this time.)

Justin's outfit was a black robe with a black hood. He had a hemp rope tied around his waist, in which was stashed some bottles and pouches of - well not actually of anything, just empty bottles and pouches. He also had some sort of necklace with some arcane pendant on it, and, well, nothing too much else - his costume was dull and not terribly elaborate, although it was made up of more fabric than his sister's. That is because of the general rule of teen to young adult women's Halloween costumes. For any given archetype the Halloween costume of it must be made with the prefix "Sexy." It is not my rule so do not blame me.

Her costume was a witch, but not the Left 4 Dead kind, although that would also probably be prefixed with "Sexy" and be both alluring and terrifying at the same time. No, her costume was a pretty traditional Halloween witch costume. It used black and lace. She had a long skirt, but it had a long slit going up the whole length on both sides, aligned with her hips. She also had high heels and fishnet stockings. The top had a rather low cut V-neck, and was also strapless. I don't even know how the physics of it worked, but at least it wasn't also bare midriff and backless. She had a traditional pointed black hat, but with more lace, and it had spider webs hanging off the rim. Topping off the costume (although not literally, that would be the hat) was a pair of half-moon rimless spectacles.

"Ah man," Alex said. "This is just like last Christmas." Meanwhile, Justin was drooling slightly.

"Anyway," Justin said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and trying to get a hold of himself. "We have the costumes. Should we start preparing our search strategy? I propose a spiral pattern."

"Makes sense. They're probably going to have to search for my body in a similar manner."

"Yeah, that is the - wait what?"

"I'm a young woman who is going to be out on Halloween. Dressed like this."

"Alex, you're a wizard! Anyone powerful enough to threaten you isn't going to care what you're wearing. Or that you're out on Halloween, for that matter. Besides which, I'll be with you!"

"Hmm, yeah, that's a good point. At least I can get away while they chase you instead."

"You mean you would sacrifice your own brother and lover to evil and powerful forces beyond our ken?"

Alex batted her eyes like a female vampire. "You mean you wouldn't sacrifice yourself for your baby sister and lover?"

Justin frowned. "You're right, I would."

Alex kissed him again to reinforce this behavior. She has trained her brother boyfriend very well, apparently.

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**A.N.: Sorry it's shortish, but this is where it has to end. Also, for the record, I personally love Steampunk like no one's business, so I am indeed _too nerdy for Cyberpunk. _**

**And one more thing: My favorite part of Alex's costume is the glasses. **


	3. In which nothing happens

**A.N.: A lot of authors tell you that they won't update without reviews. Well I am unlike that because I am writing this chiefly for my own amusement, so you can't stop me! I'll update whether you like it or not! Mwuahahahaha!**

**I do like reviews though.**

**So, those of you who have read my (SHAMELESS PLUG:) story "Confession" you'll know that I make fun of Catholics in it. Well in this story, having already made fun of Catholics, I have to move on to Mexicans and Italians. Again, I apologize specifically and directly to Ms. Gomez herself. I hope that the fact that the portrayal of the negative racial stereotype comes from a character of that race (namely, Alex herself) tempers the joke and makes it "OKish" in the context, especially since Justin points out how racist it is. (Additionally, being of German descent, I don't have to apologize for the German racial stereotype! Ha!)  
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**In this chapter, I jump forward in time to the night before Halloween itself! So, Halloweeneen I guess.**

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"All right," Justin said to Alex on Halloweeneen, sitting at their kitchen island. (Everyone else was "away somewhere". Whatever. Not important.) "Yesterday at school I caught wind of this goth party that's going to take place on Halloween."

"Huh, why would we want to go to a goth party?" Alex asked.

"Well, some goths are actually into occultism and such. I mean, not many of them, and even fewer are any good at it, but that can still be dangerous, so I figure it's a good place to start to make sure that everything goes smoothly that night."

"I guess going to a goth party isn't the end of the world. Better than no party, right?"

"Alex, we're not supposed to party! We're supposed to be protecting the world from evil."

"Why can't we have fun doing it?"

"We can have plenty of fun when we're _done_ saving the world."

"What are you, German? 'AGENDA: 1. Save World. 2. Have Fun. Two MUST proceed one. NO EXCEPTIONS.'"

"No, I'm half Italian, half Mexican, just like you!"

"Psh, it's a wonder you ever get anything done."

"Hey, that's racist! And wait a minute, you're the exact same races!"

"Well yeah, but have you ever known me to do anything?"

"You once... wait, I dunno. You killed Stevie? That was kind of something productive."

"Eh, technically it was only counter-counter-productive. Plus it exhausted me," Alex said, shrugging. "Anyway, the point is, goth party. You know, we probably shouldn't drink or eat anything there. It could be drugged."

"Oh yeah, good point! We wouldn't want some alcohol or ecstasy or something to jeopardize our ability to stop evil."

"Speak for yourself. I just want to avoid roofies."

"Alex," Justin growled.

"Your growl is so adorable," Alex said, grinning. "I should slip you some roofies and have my way with you."

"Alex!"

"You're right, I wouldn't need drugs."

Justin threw up his hands and turned to go upstairs, but Alex caught him and kissed him. He kissed back, melting into her. They clung to one another like - OK look, I'll tell you what. I'm bad at writing this part. I'm way better at the parts _leading up to_ it. So yeah, Justin and Alex kiss and make out and stuff and whatever.

Anyway, after that, they went over the plan for the evening. They'd check out the party, keeping an eye out for any unusual behavior. According to Justin, it was likely that the occultist goths, who thought that they were "cooler" than the "posers" who weren't "actually" into the occult, would probably sneak off to perform their rituals alone. The trick was to find those people and disrupt whatever they were doing, chiefly for their own good, but also for that of everyone else.

The next task was to get together the supplies. Justin was going to actually be filling the bottles and pouches on his costume with magical and mundane ingredients that would be handy for fighting/preventing/fixing evil, such as undo dust, monster dust, garlic, holy water, and self-adhesive bandages. With little puppies on them.

"So, you ready to track down evil, Sherlock Bones?" Alex asked Justin when they had gathered all their supplies and laid them out on Justin's bed.

"Ready as I'll ever be, witch...ed."

"Eh?" Alex furrowed her brow.

"Bewitched, like, you know, 'to be charmed or enchanted'?"

"That was lame even for you," Alex said.

"Heh, if you were a vampire you could say it bites. In fact, the joke downright sucks."

"Dear God please no," Alex begged.

"I know! These puns are so 'bat' it's scary."

Alex sighed heavily. "Are you quite done yet?"

Justin stuck his tongue through his teeth and looked up momentarily.

"For now, yeah," he said at last.

"OK, good."

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**A.N.: All right, it's short again but it's again a good place to end it. Stay...tuned? **


	4. ParTAY

**A.N.: I don't have anything particularly interesting to say in this edition of author's notes, but I like to write a few to provide a buffer of word-counts, so the story itself can get away with being shorter. Wait, damn, I'm not supposed to admit that! **

**Annnnnyway, in this chapter, it's Halloween! Justin and Alex go to infiltrate the goth party. **

**DISCLAIMER: The author in no way supports or encourages underage drinking, excessive drinking at any age, or drug use at any age. This work is not intended as a replacement for a physician's advice on any manner. **

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The next day was Halloween, and Justin and Alex went to the goth party. Naturally it was full of booze and drugs and probably college students, and who knows what the worst of the three are. I bet you're wondering how Justin and Alex were able to go to this party, aren't you? Well, flashback time!

_"Mom, can I go to this Halloween party tomorrow night?" Alex asked sweetly._

_"What? Tell me more about this party. Who is going to be there? Is it going to be chaperoned? Is there going to be booze and drugs and college students?" Theresa bombarded Alex with questions._

_"Justin's going."_

_"Oh. OK then, have fun sweetie."_

At the moment, they were standing outside, as there was a line to get in. In front of them were a number of burly, hairy men wearing furs and carrying archaic weapons. They were next to be let in.

"What!" one of them cried. He seemed to be the leader. "I thought this was a _goth_ party." He snorted in derision and turned around, leaving in a huff. "Come on boys, let's go crash a credit card party instead."

That made Justin and Alex next. The "bouncer" was a pale and thin guy dressed in all black, with vampire fangs. Justin began to worry that it wasn't a costume party. Fortunately, he didn't seem to eye them suspiciously at all, although the way he was eying Alex made Justin uncomfortable.

"She can go in, but I'm afraid we're kinda overbooked, and you can't," the bouncer said, probably lying.

Alex licked her lips slightly. "But see, he's my designated donor. If I get thirsty you wouldn't want me to try drinking from someone else at the party, would you?" she asked.

"Oh, dang, sorry, didn't realize he was your snack. All right, go ahead," the bouncer said, letting them both in.

Inside was what was a typical party ((AUTHOR'S NOTE: Or so I'm told)). Loud, bad techno music blasted everywhere and variously drunk/high teenagers packed everywhere, moving in a way that could almost sort of be called somewhat kind of rhythmic, which probably passed for dancing. Except you know, it basically looked like dry humping.

Justin and Alex made their way through the throng, toward the center, where the snack table was set up.

"Hmm, they have pentagram crackers, boo-berry muffins, and ghoul-aid. Good thing we already decided to not eat or drink anything," Justin said.

"Yep," Alex concurred, beginning to drink from a hip flask.

"Alex!" Justin cried.

"What? I brought this myself," she defended.

"What's in there, whiskey?"

"Psh, you know I don't drink like that!"

"Oh, good, for a minute there I -"

"It's vodka."

"Right. Well try not to drink too much, you have to keep your wits about-"

"Oooh they have tequila! _Deprendo venenum!_" The tequila shot in Alex's hand began glowing green. Alex's eyes went wide.

"Justin!" she whispered loudly. "The detect poison spell is detecting a poison in this."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Of course, Alex. Alcohol is a poison."

"Oh," Alex said. "Well then, it's probably not got another kind of poison in it!" She downed it all quickly.

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor!" Alex chanted, giggling.

"OK, OK, that's enough!" Justin said, taking the second tequila shot out of Alex's hand. You don't want to compromise yourself," he reminded her.

"Damn," Alex said, beginning to pout adorably. "When we're done with this thing, can I drink?"

"You know, we are technically on a Holy Mission from God Himself, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Yeah, that's why I said when we're done."

"Alex! Drunkenness is a sin!"

Alex practically jumped on Justin, beginning to kiss him passionately. Justin couldn't help himself and began kissing back.

"Mmm m mmm-mmm mmm" Alex said. Justin broke off the kiss.

"Huh?"

"You're a sinner too," Alex said, smirking.

"Oh, God dammit! Wait, fuck! Wait - dammit!" Justin cried. He closed his eyes. "OK, OK, look. We have to keep our eyes and ears open to find out if anything scary and occultish is going on," he said. "And we're getting off track."

"Hmm, we should use the ear of the bat spell," Alex said. "It'll look like it's just part of our costumes."

Justin grumbled to himself, cursing. Alex looked hurt.

"Well I just thought it would be a good idea," she said.

"It's a great idea," Justin replied. "I'm just mad I didn't think of it first."

"_Some are a gem, some are a rat. To find out who's who give me the ear of the bat"_ Justin and Alex both said, the spell then turning their ears into bat's ears.

"Ow, damn!" Justin said, rubbing his bat ear. "I should have suspected that the general loudness of parties would mix poorly with bat ears."

"Yeah, but if you focus you can hear individual conversations," Alex said, doing just that. She began to walk off, and Justin followed behind her. She led the way to a small group of people in a corner.

"Oh, hey," she said to one of them, a guy a little older than Justin. He had on a pentacle necklace and a cape. So again, he wasn't in costume either.

"Oh, hello," he said, looking at Alex. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alex, and this is my brother, Justin," Alex said.

"Great costumes," the goth continued. "What are you?"

"Well, I'm a chiropteran wizard, and she's a chiropteran witch," Justin explained. Alex was wondering if that had anything to do with cheerleaders, but the goth just nodded.

"Very cool," he said. "So what brings you over here?" he asked.

"Well," Alex said. "I couldn't help but overhear that you were talking about going to another party."

"That's right," he said. "It's a party for... special people." He smiled, showing his fangs. "Are you special?"

Alex looked enthralled. "Yes, I think I am," she said.

Justin was confused at first, but he began to understand what was going on. Alex figured this was their lead to someone trying to perform some sort of secret ritual. And she was using her feminine wiles to ingratiate herself with them. It was brilliant.

Though that didn't make Justin feel any less protective, jealous or afraid.

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**A.N.: Dun dun dunnnnnn! Cliffhanger ending! What happens next? Well I can't tell you, you'll have to read the next chapter! When I write it!**


	5. Part B

**A.N.: I felt like there was something I forgot to apologize for last chapter. But then I realized there wasn't, however, there was one thing I wanted to clarify. The pentacle necklace the goth in the previous chapter was wearing was specifically an inverted pentacle. I should have made that clear because at the very least Justin would understand the symbolism of that, i.e. that the inverted pentagram represents domination of the elements over the soul, symbolically the domination of material desires over spiritual ones. As such, it has been adapted in use by the Satanists, however there is a difference between LaVeyan Satanism and worship of the chief devil named Satan of Christianity. Luciferianism and Thelema are also different from the two of these, but more closely tied to LaVey, of course. Anyway, I bring this all up because all these groups use the inverted pentagram. They aren't necessarily evil, per se, except possibly worship of the Christian Satan. (As that being is defined as evil, so you don't go into worshiping him thinking it's _good._) A right side up pentagram refers to the symbolism of your spiritual self controlling your base desires, and as such is more associated with calmness, altruism and good, etc. Modern-day Wicca uses it, and as such the symbol has been demonized by most Christians to the point that _any_ pentagram is considered "evil", and they can't see beyond that to even tell if it's right-side up or inverted. If you wish to know anything further about occult symbolism, stop asking, it isn't healthy.**

**Annnyway, in this chapter, Justin and Alex follow some creepy occultist goths someplace else.**

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Justin and Alex followed the creepy occultist goths out of the party, and into a dank alleyway. The lead goth looked around a bit, then ducked into a building, motioning everyone else to follow him. Alex did so, and Justin would have hesitated before doing so except his desire to protect his sister/lover overcame his apprehension. Plus, if these goths were mortals, he and Alex could probably murder them quickly and with relative impunity.

The building was abandoned, and almost bare. The only accoutrements (Which, although a great word, is actually not at all applicable to the situation) were a pentagram drawn in red chalk on the floor, and in the middle of the pentagram, a big hole that looked like it was made of fire.

Justin pulled Alex aside. "Alex! I know what this is! It's a portal to the netherealm!"

"This is a portal to the netherealm," the lead goth said to all gathered.

"Good work, you figured it out like half a second before you would have known anyway," Alex said.

"We have to close it," Justin continued. Just then, the lead goth jumped into it. Justin looked horrified. "OK, we have to get him out of it, and then close it." The rest of the goths jumped into it. "OK, we have to - Alex!" Alex was already jumping into the portal as he spoke. She did so.

Justin sighed. "_Ubi in Roma..."_ he mumbled, and jumped in himself.

The other side of the portal looked like he imagined Hell would look like ever since reading Dante's _Inferno_. Except crossed with a happenin' nightclub. The ground was a dark and foreboding deep black rock, and this "nightclub" didn't have a roof or walls, so Justin could see the daemonic red sky and dark rock spanning off in all directions. All directions not blocked from view by the bar itself, some various tables, and demon-like creatures on the dance floor. Justin looked around, and saw a group of very confused-looking mortals staring around in abject terror. Near them was Alex, who was making the devil horn sign with her hand and banging her head.

"This place is ROCKING!" Alex cried. Justin rolled his eyes. "If Hell is like this, what's so bad about it?" she continued.

Justin made his way over to them. "This isn't technically Hell," he explained, although the similarities creeped out his Catholic sensibilities. "Now let's just grab everyone and go back through the portal - ah fuck," he said, because when he looked back the portal was no longer there.

"Oh damn, a mummy!" Alex cried, as the aforementioned monster passed by.

"Whoa, calm down!" the mummy said. "I'm not going to enslave anyone. I've just come to relax and unwind. You know, maybe listen to some wrap music."

"Oh, phew," Alex said, relaxing. She began to wander around. Near the dance floor, sitting on a stool, she saw a skeleton with a beer and a mop. She couldn't quite tell, but it looked like the skeleton was crying.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She hated to see anyone sad.

"I have no body to dance with," he replied.

"Oh..." Alex said. "I think I'm just going to... go then, mkay, good luck with that." Alex retreated, going in another direction. There she bumped into a group of demons.

"Oh, hey guys, what are you up to?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Just hanging out with some ghouls," one of the demons said, shrugging. "You know, demons are a ghoul's best friend," he explained.

Meanwhile, Justin was attempting to gather up the goths. He wasn't sure exactly what he could do after that, but he figured that gathering them up was a good first step. It wasn't proving to be too difficult because apparently none of them, not even their leader, had any idea what they were in for when they entered the netherealm portal. They just stood around, bewildered and horrified with their mouths gaping open.

So soon he had them rounded up in a group, which he did by herding them, saying "You, come here," and dragging them gently. They obliged because they had no initiative. (Not merely because of the fear but also because they are goths.) Once that was done, Justin had to think of something to tell them, because he couldn't really have them thinking that stuff like this existed. Certainly he could erase their minds, but that would have to come later, after everyone was back home and safe. The important thing now was to make sure no one panicked.

"So... would you believe this is a dream?" he tried.

"Oh, oh! Thank God," the leader goth said, breaking out of his trance-like state and relaxing. All the other goths, seeing that their fearless leader was no longer afraid, also calmed down and began chatting amongst themselves.

"Yeah! I mean really, haha, netherealm? That's silly!"

"Haha, right, I mean, yeah... dream, makes perfect sense. Oh hey though, that means this is lucid. And there's one thing I always do in lucid dreams..." he said, looking around the netherealm bar, finally setting his eyes on Alex. He looked at her with a hunger and lust, clearly thinking one thing and one thing alone.

Justin grew angry, both jealousy as a lover and his protective instincts as a brother overcame him. With a flick of his wand, the goth leader was consumed with a fire, burning him. He began to scream, though chiefly out of fear. The fire destroyed him painlessly, as he burned away into a small pile of ash. Justin scooped it up and put it in one of his pouches.

The rest of the goths began to get frightened again.

"Eh, what can I say?" Justin said, smiling apologetically. "Dreams don't make sense."

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**A.N.: Sorry this one is late! It was supposed to be yesterdays. I don't know if there's going to be one for today, because I have a lot of other work to do. (Like graph theory homework.) **


	6. Upward Bound

**A.N.: If you weren't eaten by demons for reading the last chapter, welcome back! I probably should have put a warning on that one. Ah well, if you were eaten by demons then you're probably not in a state to bother me about it by now, so I guess it's all good.**

**Also, I apologize that I haven't kept up to a 1 update/day schedule! By my count, I am two behind. If I had more time I would do a triple update to make up for it, but I do not, and you are frankly lucky to be getting this one, so shut up and eat your meal. **

**In this chapter, Alex parties while Justin tries to get everyone home.**

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"Um, there's something I do whenever I'm dreaming," one of the other goths said nervously. Justin looked at him with a steely gaze and everyone else took a step away from the guy who was speaking up.

"What?" Justin said.

"Eat an ice cream sundae," the goth replied, cringing.

"Oh," Justin said. He flicked his wand slightly and an ice cream sundae with a spoon appeared in the goth's hand. It was topped with whipped scream. His eyes lit up and he began eating it greedily.

"Now all of you stay put," Justin continued. "I'm going to find Alex and we'll get out of here."

Justin found Alex sitting at the bar with a few fellows who looked like they could be goths, but had too much charisma to really fit in with them. She was drinking a red liquid.

"Alex! What are you drinking now?" he demanded.

"A Virgin Mary," she replied.

"Oh, good. Something without alcohol."

"Psh, no, it's got alcohol. These guys are vampires. A Virgin Mary is like a Bloody Mary, without _blood_."

"But normal Bloody Marys don't have blood!" Justin argued.

"Yeah, but again, vampires." The vampires around Alex grinned, baring their fangs.

"You're lucky we have other problems. Like, I don't know if we're ever going to get out of here," Justin said.

"Oh, don't be negative," Alex said.

"B-negative? Who's got that?" one of the vampires said, beginning to drool.

"No one, Steve," another vampire said to him, patting him comfortingly on the arm. "Just calm down now. Why not read the paper? It's got great circulation."

Just then, a zombie shambled by. He smiled and nodded to one of the vampires.

"Oh, hey Fred," the vampire said. "What's up?"

"Ah, just waiting for my stinking buddies," Fred the zombie said. He ordered some ouzo and sat down at the bar to wait.

Alex giggled a bit. The alcohol was clearly getting to her. She tried to stand up, and began to lose her balance, so she fell into Justin's arms. She grinned up at him.

"Kish me!" she demanded. Justin sighed, but figured it'd be easier to oblige. The taste of alcohol was strong on her lips.

Justin half guided and half carried Alex over toward the group of goths, but before they could get there, a ghost walked right through them.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said. "I don't know where my head is today!" (and indeed, he was headless) "But a game warden just issued me a citation - I didn't have a haunting license. I've come to dull the hurt with some boos." He continued toward the bar.

"I'm hungry," Alex whined. "Can't I have some fettucinni afraid-o?" (She was apparently too drunk to care that she was punning.)

"You know, even after we get these people home, we aren't done with our job. You probably should have tempered your drinking a bit," Justin admonished.

"I'll just have to invent the drunken spellcasting form!" Alex said triumphantly, and drunkenly.

Justin sighed again, and waved his wand. A small bed appeared next to Alex, and he laid her down on it.

"Look, just rest for a bit while I try to figure out a way to get out of here," he said. "Maybe if I summon an angel, and then explain how we're on a mission from God, he can help us get out?"

The question was largely rhetorical. The party of goths wouldn't be able to summon an angel if they tried, and Alex was already dozing off. So Justin pulled some chalk from one of his belt pouches and began to draw some symbols on the ground. Then he got out a candle, lit it, and placed it in the middle of his symbols. Only then did he begin to vibrate the names of the angel he wished to summon.

But before he could finish, there was a bang and a flash of smoke, and in the middle of his symbols was a sphinx.

"In order to summon anything through the netherealm," it said. "You must answer my riddles three! First riddle - I walk on four legs in the morning-"

"A man," Justin interrupted. The sphinx looked hurt.

"Well, second riddle. It has no hinges or locks -"

"An egg, the treasure is the yolk," Justin said quickly. "Can we hurry this along, please?"

The sphinx looked hurt _and_ confused. "Er, well... its maker doesn't want it-"

"A coffin. OK that was three, can I summon my angel now?"

"Fine, sheesh," the sphinx said. It disappeared, and in its place an angel appeared. A very familiar angel.

"Harold!" Justin cried. "Not that I'm not glad to see a semi-friendly face, but you weren't the angel I was trying to summon," he explained.

"Yeah, well the angel you were trying to summon was busy and needed to send someone else, and when I found out it was you doing the summoning I figured I'd ride down and see what was up." Harold shivered slightly. "God damn I hate the netherealm." He lit up a cigarette to try to stave off the chill he got from being here.

"I need to get these mortals out of here," Justin said, motioning over to the group of goths who were now even more terrified to be in the presence of an angel.

"Makes sense. Mortals should probably not be here."

"But I'm not sure how to do that. The portal they created to get here is closed."

"Hm, yeah, makes sense. Mortal magic isn't terribly effective. All right, let's see... did you try reversing the polarity?"

"Oh! You mean the polarity of the summoning circle?" Justin said.

"Well, the polarity of something, anyway, it's usually good technobabble."

"Yeah, I know, but I mean, it actually makes sense in this case."

"All right," Harold said, picking up one of the pieces of chalk Justin had left on the ground. "I'll help you, then."

Harold and Justin drew the symbols again, but this time in a different order.

"So what's probably going to happen here," Harold said. "Is that you'll be anti-summoned up to the plane of angels, wherein you'll be shunted back down to earth. It will probably be painful and terrifying for all involved parties, but the mortals doubly so."

"Will it do any lasting harm?"

"Probably. But you know, in a good way. It might get them to give up messing with the occult."

"Then I guess it's a chance we have to take," Justin said. He woke up Alex, then had everyone stand around the symbols. He lit the candle again and began intoning the ancient names of God.

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**A.N.: Will the mortals survive being in the presence of beings as close to God as angels? Find out tomorrow! Hopefully!**


	7. All's well that ends

**A.N.: Here we are, the last chapter! Yeah, sorry, I didn't keep up with my 1/day update schedule, but I do think you've had some fun along the way, and that's what counts. **

**In this chapter, Justin and Alex finish saving Halloween!**

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The spell was cast. Suddenly there was a rush of wind slamming all the gathered goths, and Justin and Alex. The sound of the wind was a roar that washed out all other sound, and yet it continued to grow louder. Eventually it turned into a high pitched whine, and the collected company soon felt themselves being torn 'upward', and then suddenly, everything was quiet and bright. The light washed over them, invoking a sense of terror that is difficult to describe, but if you've ever had night terrors - when you regain consciousness in the middle of the night, but not control over your body, such that you are frozen in place, and the only thing you feel is fear, not fear at anything, just fear - then you've come close.

It didn't actually last long, but it felt like a long time to the goths who had never experienced anything quite like this before. Pretty quickly they felt the wind rushing over them again, only this time it slammed them 'downward'.

Soon they all regained consciousness in the little abandoned building in which they had started. They looked around, bewildered and confused. Justin quickly took charge.

"Whoa! Dudes!" he said, putting on his best 'bro' accent. "I've never seen anyone put that much liquor away. You guys are beasts!" he cried. Then he pulled a bit of powder out of one of his pouches, and blew it over the crowd. They inhaled it, and then began to relax, filling in the night with false memories of a wild party. Then they all began to disperse.

"Ugh," Alex said, walking over to Justin and leaning on him. "Remind me never to drink again."

"Yeah, alcohol can fuck you up," Justin said.

"I mean drink anything. Not ever water. Ouch," Alex said. She closed her eyes as she leaned against her brother. Justin patted her head, as her witch hat seemed to have fallen off at some point in the evening.

"What about that guy you killed?" Alex asked sleepily.

"Oh, right, him. No, I didn't kill him," Justin said. He pulled his ashes out of another pouch, and laid them on the ground. Then he took a small dagger he also had in his belt, and cut himself slightly, bleeding onto the ashes. There was a puff of smoke, and the goth leader was standing in front of them. Justin quickly stuffed some memory dust in his nose, like he did to the other goths previously, and then sent him on his way.

"All right, we have a lot more work to do," Justin said. "That was just one of the creepy rituals. I'm sure there are a lot more going on elsewhere."

Alex groaned.

"Actually, that's not true," Harold said, coming up from behind them. Justin and Alex turned around to face him.

"You see, when you guys were forced back to the material plane," Harold began explaining. "The energies filled everyone in the area who was currently performing an occult ritual. None of them are in any mood to finish them, now."

"Huh, that's a strange _deus ex machina,_" Justin commented. "And I do mean '_deus'._"

"Yeah, but it does mean your job is over!" Harold said. "Catch you guys later." He disappeared into the ether.

Justin began to drag Alex home. When they got there, everyone else was in bed. They plopped down on the couch, exhausted. Naturally Alex was cuddling with Justin, and Justin had his arm around Alex.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" Justin called.

"Phillip," was the response.

"Phillip who?"

"Phillip my bag with candy!"

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**A.N.: Well that's the end! Happy Halloween everyone!**


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